A Big Boy In The Making

After settling in Switzerland a few years ago and spending each winter snow-riding on wrong horses, I decided to have a fat-bike built.

I've been spending a lot of time reading the threads in this forum - thanks to all for the huge amount of information - and now have Kris Henry of 44 Bikes build me a Big Boy. He just finished welding a Kid Dangerous for me that replaces a not so reliable Niner Air 9 Carbon. Next week, Kris is starting with this:

A few parts that I had sitting around or were recently purchased:

For everything else I'll be working with Kris. Some components being rather hard to come by, I'll need to be patient and continue to enjoy winter on a wrong horse. Nothing wrong with that

Been on MTBR for a long time as a 29er rider. This is my first fat-bike. Never actually been on one, but with the nice winters we get around here, I'm sure I'll be a fat-bike addict soon. Couple more days and the frame is finished. Then off to powder and getting all the components together. Super fun to work with Kris on this puppy.

In order for chain guide and TRS fat-bike crank to play together, the granny tabs had to go. Hopefully, e.13 will have something for us fat-bikers to run XX1 without a chainguide - either a spider for a SRAM XX1 chainring or an e.13 chainring that doesn't require a chain guide.

It'll be my second 44. In January I received a 29er Kris built for me. They are as fun to ride as they look. I've been truly enjoying winter, albeit currently still on 2.4 narrow tires. The fat-bike will feel right at home in my local snowy mountains. I often use MTBR as a source of inspiration when planning a build, be it to look for a builder, component choices or colors. Glad if this thread can do the same.

So, Kris sent the bike across the pond in one big, sturdy box. I don't know how much time he took to carefully pack everything, but it took me about half an hour to get everything unpacked. Now that it's here, I have to say it looks even better than on the photos. A few pictures of the final build:

Thanks roxo56. The bike was almost ruined yesterday. Construction workers hammered out the floor from an apartment above my basement where I keep my bikes. They worked with such force that the ceiling in the basement hallway and my basement collapsed. Thanks to boxes stacked almost up to the ceiling next to the bike and my cross bike hanging above the fat-bike, both miraculously remained without a scratch but like everything else I had in the basement, they were both covered with a think layer of cement dust. Glad I got it out of there unharmed.